Fader for motion-picture printers



Feb. 6, 1945. 2,368,804

A. B. CHATELAIN EADER FOR MOTION PICTURE PRINTERS Filed March 8, 1941 3Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR ATTORNEY BY Arthur Chatelain- Feb. 6, 1945. ACHATELMN 2,368,804

FA-DER FOR MOTION PICTURE PRINTERS Filed March 8, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 2F1 1;. i2. BY M L.) ATTORNEY Feb. 6, 1945., A. B. C HATELAIN FADER E'QRMOTION PICTURE PRINTERS Filed March 8, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 1 7o 7 73MI IN VEN TOR Arthur B. Cbaielain ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 6, 1945 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE FADER FOR MOTION-PICTURE PRINTERS Application March8, 1941, Serial No. 382,355

4 Claims.

This invention.relates to the art of printing motion pictures and dealswith a means for making automatic printing fades.

In printing motion pictures it is customary to utilize the fade eitherat the beginning or the end of the scene. When used at the beginning ofa scene it is termed a fade in and causes the light to progressivelyintensify to produce an increase in the photographic densities on thefilm. When used at the end of a scene it is termed a fade out andprogressively dims the printing light to produce a decrease inphotographic densities. Sometimes these fades are loverlapped, that is,the fade out on the end of a :scene will be overlapped and printed onthe fade in at the beginning of a scene. In motion picture parlance thiswould be termed a lap dissolve. The present day practice of making fadesconsists in effecting a change in the printing light intensity by handmanipulated means. This practice results in irregular. changes extendingover approximate distances only. There can be nothing accurate inregulating a light by hand over any known length of film, since there isno way of synchronizing the change of light with the speed of the filmexcept by guess work.

The invention to be described and claimed hereinafter provides a meanswhereby the intensity of the printing light may vbe changed andcontrolled by the movement of the film. The means for this purpose hasbeen adapted and arranged to be mounted on a conventional printer of awell known type, and by minor alterations may be interposed between theprinting light and the printing gate. The device when installed in thismanner is adapted to be connected to a driving member of the printer bsuitable disengageable means, and when so connected will operate toprogressively vary the intensity of the light reaching the film in timedrelation to the speed of the film. Means are also provided for operatingthe device from the conventional contactor on the machine, which isactuated by the usual notch in the film. In addition, the apparatus isequipped with means for varying the rate of change of the printing lightwith respect to the film travel. This is for the purpose of providingvarious length fades and is especially useful for forming lap dissolveswherein the fade out and the fade in portions must be of complementarydensities and the faded portions must be of the same length.

It therefore becomes the purpose of this invention to provide anautomatic printing fader whereby the length of the fade maybe'accurately controlled. Another object is to provide a device of thecharacter described wherein fades of various predetermined lengths maybe made. Another object is to provide an automatic fader wherein therate of change of the printing light intensity is controlled by the filmtravel. Still another object is to provide a fader which may beinstalled upon a conventional printing machine and driven by themechanism of the machine itself. Other objects and advantages willbecome apparent as the description proceeds in conjunction with thedrawings in which:

Figure 1 is a view partly in section showin the device assembled forinstallation upon a printing machine;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of Figure 1, showing a fragmentary part ofthe printing machine itself;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view of Figure 1 taken on line 33;

Figure 4 is a, view taken on line 44 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a view taken on line 55 of Figure 1;

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6 of Figure 1;

Figure '7 is a view taken on line 1-1 of Figure 1;

Figure 8 is a view taken on line 8-8 of Figure 5, showing the interiorof the variable speed transmission device;

Figure 9 is a view taken on line 9 9 of Figure 8;

Figure 10 is a view taken on line l0l0 of Figure 8;

Figure 11 is a schematic view showing the position of my automatic faderas it would be in stalled upon a printer between the printing light andthe printer gate; and

Figure 12 is a schematic view showing the electrical wiring andswitching arrangement employed in operating my device.

.Briefly stated, the invention amounts to a means that may .beincorporated into a conventional motion picture film printer of a wellknown type with minor alterations and may be driven by the machinemechanism to produce fades or, as hereinbefore and hereafter termed,fade ins and fade outs of various predetermined lengths. In itspreferred form the invention has been assembled and mounted upon a unitmember which will be termed a plate generally designated P that isadapted to be inserted between the printing light and the printingaperture. Upon this plate I mount the various mechanisms required toperform the functions stated hereinbefore.

Referring to Figure 1, the mechanism mounted upon the plate P may beseen to comprise a box generally designated B which contains a variablespeed mechanism and a control head generally designated C, together withattendant mechanism for correlating the whole into an operable unit.

The function of the entire device is to progres sively dim orprogressively intensify the printing light falling upon the printingaperture. I accomplish this by shuttering the effective printing lightbetween the printing lamp and the printing aperture. The shutter forthis purpose is mounted upon the plate P in the following manner.Figures 1 and 7 it will be observedthat the plate P is formed with anaperture ll adapted to pass light from the regular printing lamp in amanner to be later described. Over the aperture II, I slidably mount ashutter. l2 arranged to reciprocate in runners l3, which in turn aremounted upon the plate P. The shutter I2 is reciprocated by means of arod l4 which'is attached to a sliding carriage l5 that in turn isreciprocated by means of a link l5 connected to a crank ll. It can beseen from the foregoing structure that, as the crank I1 is rotated inthe direction of the arrow l8, the shutter I2 slides downwardly over theaperture II and entirely closes the aperture- As the shutter closes theaperture in this manner, the printing light is progressively dimmed andforms on the film what is generally termed a fade out. It is evidentthat if the shutter started from the bottom, or the closed position overthe aperture, the light would be progressively increased or intensifiedand would form on the film what in motion picture parlance is generallytermed a fade in. The carriage I5 is arranged to work in a slot l9formed in a member which is suitably mounted upon the plate P by boltsor screws such as 2 I. The crank arm I! in turn is mounted upon a shaft22 which is supported in the member 20 and carries on its opposite end agear 23 which meshes with a gear 24 fixed to a shaft 25. The shaft 25 asshown is rotatably supported in the member C and the box B and carriesanother gear 26 fixed thereon. As shown, the shaft 25 is hollow andcarries a rod 21 rotatably mounted therein. The gear 26 meshes with agear 28 suitably mounted externally of the box B and driven frommechanism in the box to be later described.

Referring again to the aperture II, it will be noted that there is apair of plates 29 and 30 arranged to be slid laterally for opening andclosing the aperture horizontally. This opening and closing action willbe observed to be at right angles to the opening and closing action ofthe shutter l2 and the purpose is to regulate the fixed intensity of theprinting light before the shutter 12 operates to progressively cut offor increase the printing light. The plates 29 and 30, as before stated,are adapted to be moved laterally with respect to each other and themeans for this purpose can best be seen in Figure 6.' Here it is shownthat the plates 29 and 30 have attached to them racks 3| and 32respectively, said racks working in a slot 33 in the plate P. Betweenthe racks I provide a pinion 34 on the end of a shaft 35 adapted toengage the racks on opposite sides of the pinion. Under this arrangementthe plates 29 and 30 may be moved either to open or close the aperture Hby turning the shaft 35. As will be noted, the shaft 35 extends throughthe plate P and carries on its upper end a miter gear 36 which mesheswith another gear 31 that is mounted upon a shaft 38, which in turn isrotatably mounted in the control plate C and carries a control knob 39on its outer end. From the foregoing, it is obvious that the aperture llmay be opened and closed laterally by turning the knob 39. Means arecarried upon the control plate C for indicating the extent of theopening and may take the form of a dial 4|] having suitable calibrationsthereon.

Having shown the shutter construction and the functions thereof, itremains to show means for driving the shutter in the manner stated; thatis, by variable preselected speeds controlled by the film movement. Themeans for varyin the speed of the shutter I2 is contained in the box B,which is best seen in Figures 8, 9, and 10. In Figure 8 it will beobserved there are three shafts, namely, 4|, 42, and 43, mounted in thebox B. The shaft 43 extends externally of the box and carries a clutchmember 44, the purposeof which will be later described. Inside the boxB, I mount a gear 45 on the shaft 43 which meshes with a gear 43 on theshaft 42. The shaft 43 therefore becomes the driver with respect to thebox B, while the shaft 42 may be termed the intermediate shaft and theshaft 4! may be termed the driven shaft through gears to be nowdescribed. Upon the shaft 41, I mount a series of gears 4'1 to 54inclusive. These gears will be noted to vary from a small diameter gear41 to a large diameter gear 54. As a means of translating variablespeeds through the box B, I mount a sliding gear arrangement generalldesignated 55 upon the shaft 42 and control this arrangement by means ofthe rod 21 which, as before explained, extends through the shaft 25 tothe control plate C, where it is equipped with a manual control knob 56having a finger 51 that extends to and contacts a stepped plate 58. Thepurpose of this stepped plate will become apparent in explaining the usof th var-' iable speed arrangement. As can be seen by referring toFigures 9 and 10, the rod 21 carries a crank arm 59 inside the box Bwhich at its lower end carries a pin 60. On the pin there is anotherupstanding arm 6| which is pivotally mounted on the pin. On the upperend of the arm Bl, I provide cros links 62 which extend over and engageplates 53 that carry meshed gears 64, 55, and 66 pivotally mountedtherebetween. The gear 66 is splined to the shaft 42 so that it may beslid longitudinally along the shaft. As will be noted, the plates 63extend below the shaft 42 on opposite sides of the pin 60, therebyforming a means of shifting the whole assembly 55 along the shaft 42 byfirst pulling on the rod 2'! to swing the assembly55 free of contactwith any of the gears 41 to 54, and then rotating the rod 21, which inturn throws the crank arm 59 to any one of the dotted positions shown inFigure 9 and slides the assembly 55 in position selected. The gear 64then may be meshed with any one of the gears 41 to 54, depending uponthe position of the crank arm 59, b pushing the rod 21 inwardly, therebyrocking the arms 63 on the shaft until the gear 64 meshes with theselected gear. In this way any one of the gears 41 to 54 may be selectedand, since the gears 41 to 54 are variable in diameter,

the shaft 4| may be driven at a predetermined variable speed. On theshaft 4|, I also mount a derstood that the gear 28 which meshes with thegear 26 is not attached to the shaft 69 except by the means to behereinafter described. The means for intermittently driving the gear 28by the shaft 69 comprises a clutch consisting of ratchet members I2 andI3. The member I2 is fixed to rotate with the shaft 69 through a pin andslot connection I4 while the member 13 is rotatably mounted on the shaft69 and is adapted to be moved into engagement with the ratchet member I2by means of a solenoid 15 arranged to pull the member I3 along the shaft69 by means of a fork I6 working in a circular groove I6 in the memberI3. The fork I6 is attached to a movable rod I9 which is connected to oris a part of the core 80 and the solenoid I5. A spring 8I holds the coreand the rod 19 normally extended so that the clutch members I2 and I3are engaged only when the solenoid is energized. A spring I1 maybemounted between member 12 and the bearing I to cushion the effect of thesolenoid in suddenly contacting the members I2 and 13. The member I3 isarranged to drive the gear 28 through a tongue and slot connectiongenerally designated I8. From the above described arrangement it can beseen that the gear 28 is only driven when the solenoid I is energized.

The means for energizing the solenoid utilizes part of the alreadyexisting equipment on the printer. To those versed in the art of motionpicture printers, it is known that an electrical contactor or aninterrupter is installed on the printing machine, which under thepresent practice is utilized to control a solenoid for regulating thefixed intensity of the printing lamp. In my invention I utilize thissame contactor by switching the output of the contactor from theconventional solenoid above mentioned to the solenoid I5 in the box B ofmy equipment. Also, since it is the intention of incorporating myinvention on a standard motion picture printer, I provide means forengaging or disengaging my fading apparatus with a driving member on theprinting machine. These means will be best seen in Figures 1, 2, and 5.In these figures it will be observed that I have provided a rod 82extending from the control plate C to a bracket 83 on the box B. The rod82 is equipped'on the control end with a handle 84 which operates over aplate 85 that may have indicia as shown signifying the position of theoperating means. On the rod 82 I afiix a crank 86. The crank 86 in turnpivotally engages a link 81, which link in turn pivotally engagesanother crank 88 attached to a vertical rod 89. The rod 89 may berotatably supported in brackets 90 suitably mounted upon a part of thehousing SI of the printer. Afiixed to the rod 89 is a yoke member 92 anda crank member 93 which are for the purpose respectively of engaging ordisengaging power to the box B and of switching the output of thecontactor from the conventional solenoid or electrical means forcontrolling the fixed intensity of the light in the ordinary manner tothe solenoid I5 in box B. As best seen in Figure 2, the yoke 92 extendsover and engages a sliding clutch member 94 which is splined to a shaft95. The clutch member 94 is adapted to be moved into engagement with theherein before described member 44 and effect a driving connectionbetween the shaft 95 and the shaft 43. The shaft 95 may be mounted in abearing 96 suitably mounted upon the housing 9I. The means for drivingthe shaft 95 comprises miter gears 91 and 98, the gear 98 being mountedupon a shaft 99 which in turn is synchronously driven by the the switchsame mechanism that feeds the film through the printing machine. Fromthe foregoing it can be seen that the shaft 43 in the box B issynchronously driven with respect to the speed of the film as it travelsthrough the printing machine when the clutch members 94 and 44 are inengagement.

Referring to the crank 93, it will be noted that this prank is arrangedto operate a switch box I00. For purposes of illustration this switchwill be termed a double pole, double throw switch, but any other switchwhich will perform the function may be used. As shown here, the switchbox I00 has an extending finger IOI which is engaged :by the crank arm93 in any suitable manner such as by a slot or ball and socketarrangement. The switch has three leads, namely, 'I02, I03, and I04.Lead I02 leads to the contactor I05 before mentioned and connects theoutput of the contactor to the midtaps of the switch. The lead I03 leadsfrom the switch to the conventional solenoid which is used to regulatethe fixed light intensity passing through the printing aperture. LeadI04 leads from the switch box to the solenoid I5 in my box B. The clutchmembers 94 and 44 and I00 are so arranged that when the clutch isengaged the switch connects the output of the contactor to the solenoidI5 in my apparatus and when the clutch is disengaged, as shown -inFigure 2, the output of the contactor is connected to the standardsolenoid used for controlling th fixed light intensity in theconventional manner. This is best illustrated in Figure .12, wherein Ihave diagrammatically shown the contactor I05 working in a notch I06 inthe side of a film F in the conventional manner. The contactor completesthe circuit through a battery A to the swinger of the switch I00. Whenthe clutch members 94 and 44 are engaged, the switch I00 is thrown sothat the output of the contactor is fed into the solenoid 'I5-and whenthe clutch is disengaged the output is fed onto the other side of theswitch or to the conventional solenoid. In order to skip certain notchesin the film which are not wanted, I provide a switch I07 between theswitch I00 and the solenoid I5. For convenience this switch is locatedon the control plate C and a suitable lead I01 may be run in anyconvenient manner from the solenoid to the switch.

As stated in the forepart of this specification, my apparatus has beendesigned to produce either a fade in or a fade out. This means that theshutter I2 must be able to start from either a closed position or anopen position. In order to do this it is necessary to provide means forchanging the position of the shutter with respect to the drivingmechanism. For t s purpose I provide a gear I08 affixed to the shaft 25near the control plate C. The gear I08 meshes with another gear I09which is mounted on a stub shaft I I0 that in turn is rotatably mountedin the plate '0 and controlled by a knob III. By turning the knob I IIthe shaft 25 may be rotated even though the clutch members I2 and I3 areengaged to change the position of the shutter I2. In this manner theshutter may be set to produce either a fade in or a fade out.

. In operating the machine it is to be understood that the printer maybe used in the ordinary manner to print motion picture film or that bymeans of my apparatus it may be converted into a machine for producingfades either at the beginning or the end of a scene. If the machine isworking in the conventional manner, the clutch members 94 and 44 aredisengaged, which means that the switch I00 is switching the functionsof the contactor to the conventional solenoid for controlling the fixedintensity ofthe light for? printing the I different scenes. If themachine is to be used for producing'fade's; the iever fl is swung frornthe full-lineor the ="out -"position inFigure 3 over to the in'positioni This con nectsthe clutch members 94 and 44 and switches theoutput of the contaotorto thesolenoid lS and the gears in the box 3start turning". Then the lengthof the dissolve to be made is deter minedand any gear, ranging from l'l to, is"

selected which will give the-proper length. To

dothis, the knob 56 is pulled back fromthe control plate Candturneduntil the proper-gear ratio is indicated upon the dial-58,whereupon the' knob is pushed inwardly until the gear" 64 of the slidinggear assembly is pushed into-contact with the gear selected, which asshown in this This selection of gears case would be gear-SI. would givea fixed speeduto the rotation of the of the film movement through themachine. soon as the contactor I05 detectsa notch I06 in the film, thesolenoid I5 is'energize'd, which pullsthe member I3 into engagementwiththe member 12, that in turn rotates the gear 28 by theaforementioned tongue and slot connection Ill. The gear 28 in turnrotatesthegear 26'. Attention is called to the eccentricity of the gears26- and 28. By referring to Figure5, it can be seen that these gears areeccentrically mounted upon their shafts, which is for'the purposeofproviding a progressively'varying rate of change in density requiredtoproduce a smooth fade. In practiceit has been found that the rate ofchange of the light intensity must vary proportionally to the intrinsicvalue of the effective light toproduce a smooth fade out, and that therate of change must vary inversely to the intrinsic value of theeffective light to produces/smooth fade in. The rotation of the gear 26drives the shaft 25, whichin turnthrough the gears 23 and 24 rotates thearm II that controls' th'e shutter I2. The cycleof the operation for afade out is one-half of a complete rotation of 'thearm I'I andthestarting position would be the-dotted line position of the arm II inFigure 1. In order to confine. the operation to one-half ofa'revolution, the member I3 (Figure 8) is provided with a protuberanceH3 which is adaptedto fit into an indentation H4 formed in a part of thecase of the box B. are two protuberances and two indentations spaced 180apart, which will give a complete cycle of operation of one-half of arevolutionof the member I3. It can be seen'therefore that as the member13' ismoved toward the member I2 the protuberance H3 is withdrawnfronr'theindentation H4 and as the member I3 starts-to revolve theprotuberance I I3 rides upon the face H5 and holds the two members inengagement during one-half'of a revolution only.- As the member I3rotates for one-half of a revolution,

theprotuberance H3 slides into the otherinden tation spaced 180 from theindentation H4 and allows the member I3 to move away from the otherclutch member, thus disengaging the clutch members I2 and]! andcompleting one cycle. During this cycle the shutter I2" has moveddownwardl over theaperture" I I "and has progressively cut the light toextinction that passes toltheifllm. In caseit was desiredto progres Itisto be understood that there covere'cl'by the usual printing gate I23.

sively increasenthe light instead of decreasing Tit, the knobdll' wouldbeturned from the open position, indicated by J the letter O as shown inFigure' 3, to the closed position indicated by the letter c. This wouldrotate the shaft 25 through the gears I08 and I09 until the arm I'I,

instead of pointing upwardly, would point downwardly. Frorn thisposition the shutter would start from a-closed position and wouldprogressively open the aperture I I.

In Figure-11,1 haveshown the effect of the movement of the shutter I2.Here it will be observed that the'plate P is mountedupon the P. Lightfrom the lamp L passes through these apertures to a printing apertureI22, which is The ordinary method of controlling the fixed intensity ofthe printing light consists in moving the shutter I24' over an apertureI25. This shutter is controlled by the conventional solenoidhereinbefore mentioned. From this set-up it will be observed that theshutter I2 which works over the aperture II controls the light inaddition to the shutterI24. As stated hereinbeforethe shutter I24 is theconventional shutter on the standard printing machine and is not to beconfused with my shutter I2. The function and the operation of the twoshutters is distinct. The function of the shutter I24 is to fix thelight intensity for printing separate scenes, while the function of myshutter is to vary the light to form a variation in photographicdensities either at the end or the beginning of a scene.

Having shown'and described a preferred form of my invention, Iintendthis disclosure to cover "all equivalent means; includingmodifications and refinements, that come within the scope of thedisclosure and the purview of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a motionpicture printer, a combination of two shutters between-theprinting light and the printing aperture, one ofsaid shutters comprisinga pair of opaque plates, means for simultaneously moving said plates tocontrol the open ing therebetween, the other of said shutters consistingof an opaque plate, means for moving saidplate substantially at a rightangle to the movement of said first mentioned plates over the openingbetween said plates to shutter the same; said last mentioned meansincluding a crank arm and a link connecting said crank arm to saidplate, drive means for rotating said crank arm, and means forautomatically engaging or disengaging said drive means from said crankarm to rotate the same one-half of a revolution only'to'move said platefrom a non-shuttering position to a shuttering position over saidopening.

2. In a motion picture printer, a combination of two shutters betweenthe printing light andthe printing aperture, one of said shutterscomprising a pair of opaque plates, means for simultaneously moving saidplates to control the opening therebetween, the other of said shutterscon- I sisting of an opaque plate, means for moving said platesubstantially at a right angle to the movement of said first mentionedplates over the opening between said plates to shutter the same, saidlast mentioned'meahs including a crank-- arm and a link'connecting saidcrank arm to'said' plate, and drive means for rotating said crank arm tomove said plate from a non-shuttering position to a. shuttering positionover said opening, said drive means including a pair of eccentricallymounted meshed gears adapted to yield a varying rate of movement to saidcrank arm.

3. In a motion picture printer, a combination of two shutters betweenthe printing light and the printing aperture, one of said shutterscomprising a pair of opaque plates, means for simultaneously moving saidplates to control the opening therebetween, the other of said shuttersconsisting of an opaque plate, means for moving said plate substantiallyat a right angle to the movement of said first mentioned plates over theopening between said plates to shutter the same, said last mentionedmeans including a crank arm and a link connecting said crank arm to saidplate, and drive means for rotating said crank arm to move said platefrom a non-shuttering position to a completely shuttering position oversaid opening, said drive means including a pair of eccentrically mountedmeshed gears adapted to yield a changing rate of movement to said crankarm during the movement of said plate over said opening.

4. In combination in a motion picture printer, means for shuttering theeffective printing light in said printer, means for driving saidshuttering means from the film moving means in said printer, saiddriving means including a pair of eccentrically mounted meshed gearsadapted to change the speed of said shuttering means during theoperating time thereof.

ARTHUR B. CHATELAIN,

